This has been one of those weeks you can't quite put your finger on … it didn't feel like I should have been that busy, but I had no time for nothin' extra, and even the Olympic knitting is not proceeding as it might.

Leaving aside the brain fart I had yesterday, telling me that the Olympics were ending yesterday and I had missed yet another opportunity to finish St. Brigid, the Olympic Project from 2006. But hey, presto Eureka and lo! They're still on, and I have until the 24th to finish this baby.

That's the good news. The bad news is, I've hit the knitters' version of "the wall."

For all you non-runners out there, "the wall" is what happens to people crazy enough to try to run for 26.2 miles all at one time. Come mile 17 or 20 or 21 or so, your body's ENTIRE store of glycogen (the fuel that makes muscles go) has been wiped out, and you're running on nothin' but fumes. Burning muscle cells - oh, except you need those. Stored fat? Sure, great - if you have any left by the time you've trained your butt off for 16 weeks or more to survive the damn thing. Besides, stored fat takes a little oomph to make it combustible (yes, gals, that's why it's so hard to get rid of!), and guess what? You've done burned up the kindling you needed to get that fire going!

So runners suck down energy gel gooey things, and cry, and just keep running.

And so it is with St. Brigid.

You see the photo from Day 3's entry down below? go take a look. I'll wait right here.

Aah, the days of innocence. The days of sitting on the couch at lunchtime, watching "Sex and the City" and working on those repeats. That was before I'd done the last of the repeats on Sleeve #1, gotten started on the saddle, and then decided to just take a quick look. [Knitters' equivalent of checking a mile marker to see how many there are to go – when is that a good idea? ever?)

Stumpy.And very likely exactly ONE REPEAT shorter than what I want.Now, I know this is a drop-shoulder garment, so the sleeves attach to a body that already hangs down the arm off the shoulder a bit, but kids? This is teddy-bear kinda stumpy.

Why would this surprise me? Two years ago, this one hit the emotional speed bump that put it into hibernation for the exact same reason: I realized I had to make it longer if I'd ever want to wear it and feel good in it… which meant ripping back the front neckline, working an extra repeat on the body, and then re-knitting the neckline.

And here I am again… though, blessedly, there's nothing to rip out here (except a bind-off in preparation for the saddle shoulder). Just 21 more rows on each sleeve before I can head into the stadium for my victory lap.

Pardon me while I go watch the streaming video of the Women's Olympic Marathon final and cheer on Constantina from Romania again. Whatta gal. What a tank. Winning by over a minute? Inspiring.What are a few repeats of a Starmore chart in comparison to that?